satisfying their constituents and the legislators' willingness to listen to interest-group demands. For example, the Defense Department may decide to spend more money to keep a military base open because the local economy depends on it and to spend less money to improve combat readiness.
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Budgets provide a powerful tool of accountability to citizens who want to know how the government is spending their money and if govern- ment has generally followed their preferences. Budgeting links citizen preferences and governmental outcomes.
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Budgets reflect citizens' preferences for different forms of taxation and different levels of taxation, as well as the ability of specific groups of tax- payers to shift tax burdens to others. The budget reflects the degree to which the government redistributes wealth upward or downward through the tax system.
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At the national level, the budget influences the economy, so fiscal policy affects the level of employment--how many people are out of work at any time.
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Budgets reflect the relative power of different individuals and organiza- tions to influence budget outcomes. Budgetary decision making provides a picture of the relative power of budget actors within and between branches of government, as well as the importance of citizens in general and specific interest groups.
In all these ways, public budgeting is political. But budgeting is not typical of other political processes and hence one example among many. It is both an important and a unique arena of politics. It is important because of the specific policy issues reflected in the budget: the scope of government, the distribution of wealth, the openness of government to interest groups, and the accountabil- ity of government to the public at large. It is unique because these decisions have to take place in the context of budgeting, with its need for balance, its openness to the environment, and its requirements for timely decisions so that government can carry on without interruption.
Public budgets clearly have political implications, but what does it mean to say that key political decisions are made in the context of budgeting? The answer has several parts. First, what is budgeting? Second, what is public bud- geting, as opposed to individual or family budgeting or the budgeting of pri- vate organizations? Third, what does political mean in the context of public budgeting?
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Questia, a part of Gale, Cengage Learning. www.questia.com
Publication Information: Book Title: The Politics of Public Budgeting: Getting and Spending, Borrowing and Balancing. Contributors: Irene S. Rubin - author. Publisher: Chatham House Publishers. Place of Publication: New York. Publication Year: 2000. Page Number: 2.
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